Increase high altitude monitoring for glacial lake outburst floods: Parliamentary Committee

Concerned with glacier movement in the Himalayan region due to climate change, a Parliamentary Committee has recommended widening the network of high altitude meteorological and discharge stations equipped with modern technology to avoid damage after disasters such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF).

Agencies involved, however, have apprehension owing to the high altitude and inclement weather conditions.

"Of late, climate change has had a great impact on glacier movement in the Indian Himalayan region. In general, glaciers have been rapidly melting and retreating resulting in formation of a number of moraine dammed glacial lakes, posing numerous threats, particularly to the population and infrastructure located nearby due to their outbursts.

"Recognising and spotting of dangerous glacial lakes is very important so that all the stakeholders i.e. planners, scientists, academics, and the general public may evolve, adopt, and carry out suitable mitigation steps such as monitoring, early warning, evacuation and relief and rehabilitation," said the 12th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources, headed by Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, tabled on August 5.

The Committee recommended that the Jal Shakti Ministry "make concerted efforts to set up and widen the network of high altitude meteorological and discharge stations" equipped with modern technology, including Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery to automatically detect changes in water bodies, including new lake formations, covering glaciers, glacial lakes and watersheds in the Indian Himalayan region. Besides, it should also work in close collaboration with other agencies involved in glacial management and analysing the mountain hazards by sharing data with them, said the report 'Flood Management in the country including international water treaties in the field of Water Resources Management with particular reference to treaty/agreement entered into with China, Pakistan and Bhutan' .

Noting flood forecasting by Central Water Commission helps the authorities concerned to a large extent in framing a relief and mitigation response to riverine floods by providing advanced information, it said: "However, disasters such as flash floods, GLOF, and landslides, which are expected to become more common in the future due to climate change, constitute a threat in terms of assessing and forecasting their perilous impact in a prompt way.

However, the two main agencies involved, the CWC, under the Jal Shakti Ministry, and the India Meteorological Department, under the Earth Sciences Ministry, have apprehensions about the feasibility of ground stations at higher altitude and the loss of observation stations due to extreme weather events.

The CWC has no stations beyond 2,000 metres high in the Himalayas while most IMD weather stations there are below 2,500 metres.

GLOF occurs above the snowline and the CWC monitors 477 out of 2,028 glacial lakes (baseline mapping) and water bodies with the help of satellites images that it receives every 15 days or a month. (IANS)

Also Read: Footprints of climate change 'evident' in Himalayas, Karakoram ranges

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